Tag Archives: Henry Frost

Self-determination can very hard for any one, but in the end anyone, can respect themselves more, while others respect more who the person is. I find some Non-Disabled people do not see the whole picture. A person who wants to live in a particular area, work in a particular job, or do what they know can to help humanity, should have the right to do it. Societies are always pushing their thoughts, ideas, and motives on to the disability community to tell us how to think. The earlier a child is pushed to do it on their own, the more the child will have the ability to do the actions on their own. It’s also interesting how in the early Twentieth Century, there were many youth who as an adolescent, really worked, and built their lives earlier than many do now. Nowadays, standardized testing and intelligence scales are focused more than the creations any adolescent youth used to work on to build their lives.

Telling others to always use person first language does not allow anyone to have self-determination. It just instructs Autistic and Disabled people to go along with what other people say. The time is now to allow everyone to be able to identify themselves however they want to be called. No one can tell another person what they should be called and no one can tell a person how to live their life as long as they are not hurting themselves or others. Most people do not realize that Autistic people around the world need to live their life a certain way in order to be living their life the way they know they can. Self-Determination is allowing everyone to figure out how they want to live their life without influence from anyone else and know exactly how they want to be identified as. So, why are there still some people always trying to push their ways of identifying others especially on Autistic and Disabled people. That is not self-determination.

It really is interesting when I know that there are some Autistic people who say they are happy, however professionals, parents, or caregivers are forcing them to socialize in unexpected ways because they insist the Autistic person is unhappy. Socializing with others is a different process for everyone. Everyone socializes, but not everyone socializes the same way or at the same times as the majority of people. A lot of people will socialize by talking and making eye contact, but many others do not and can not do that. There are many people who socialize just be hugging, flapping, spinning, or using a Augmentative and Assistive Communication device (AAC) such as an iPAD. It’s interesting socializing is made to be an important factor for life especially when we see it in media throughout history. Watch this episode from Ghost Whisperer, season 2, episode 4 on Netflix or buy the TV series online at Amazon. This episode was the most accurate portrayal of Autistic people I have ever seen. It aired in 2007. Watch the episode and it’s not what you would expect.

I’ve heard some Autistic people who said that they wished they could just walk up to anyone and start a conversation on their own, but they literally can not do that. There are also some who do not care to start talking to anyone because they just want to work on their interest which a lot of people call, their ‘special interests’.

This past week I went to the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network’s Annual Gala in Washington D.C.!!! It was great meeting and increasing my network while enjoying the amazing night. Congratulations to Henry Frost for his amazing work and being included in the public school system!!